{"id":1638,"date":"2020-09-27T01:18:33","date_gmt":"2020-09-27T01:18:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/livingagoodlife.com\/fall2022\/?page_id=1638"},"modified":"2022-10-13T21:23:31","modified_gmt":"2022-10-13T21:23:31","slug":"llc4","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/livingagoodlife.com\/fall2022\/live-like-a-confucian-week\/llc4\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 4 – Reflective Control"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Day 4:<\/b>
Reflective Control<\/b><\/h5>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Live Like a Confucian<\/b><\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Background<\/b><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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It is not the function of the ears and eyes to reflect (<\/span>si<\/span> \u601d), and they are misled by things.\u00a0<\/span>Things interact with things and simply lead them along. But the function of the heartmind is to reflect. If it reflects then it will get it. If it does not reflect, then it will not get it. This is what Heaven has given us. If one first takes one\u2019s stand on what is greater, then what is lesser will not be able to snatch it away. This is how to become a great person.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>

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\u2013\u00a0<\/span>Mengzi\u00a06A15<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Engaging in reflection is an important part of Confucian teachings about living a good life. The \u201creflection\u201d they have in mind is not just a matter of thinking. As the contemporary scholar Bryan Van Norden emphasizes, in some contexts it is quite explicit that to \u201csi <\/em>\u601d\u201d something is to long for it, as in an ancient Ode describing a gentleman as \u201clonging for\u201d his bride-to-be. After considering some other evidence, Van Norden concludes that to si<\/em> (i.e., reflect on) the sprouts is \u201cto focus one\u2019s attention on the sprouts in a way that involves longing for their proper development.\u201d[1]<\/span><\/a><\/p>

As Mengzi<\/em> 6A15 emphasizes, reflection is a voluntary capacity that we can exercise whenever we want: we have the ability to do it. Not exercising that capacity is to \u201ctake one\u2019s stand\u201d on what is \u201clesser\u201d (i.e., the physical desires rather than the moral ones). Using our capacity of reflection, that is, should be thought of in the context provided by Mengzi<\/em> 7B24 (see Day 2<\/a>): if one aims to be a superior person, one should \u201ctake one\u2019s stand\u201d on the greater.<\/p>

We can reflect\u2014as in Mengzi\u2019s famous thought experiment\u2014on how we would respond to suddenly seeing a baby about to fall into a well, or reflect back on actual experiences. Maybe you recently encountered a panhandler on a city street and then turned away, walking on without a word. Does later reflection reveal some inner turmoil around this event? Mengzi would encourage each of us to employ reflection to seek to \u201cextend\u201d those reactions about which we feel good to other circumstances in which we are less proud of how we responded. It\u2019s easy to feel compassion for a baby, and probably to seek to save him or her from falling into the well\u2014especially when all of this is in your imagination. When you\u2019re in a hurry, maybe frustrated about something at home or at work, it\u2019s harder to treat the panhandler like a person in need.<\/p>

[1]<\/span><\/a> Bryan Van Norden, Virtue Ethics and Consequentialism in Early Chinese Philosophy<\/em> (Cambridge, 2007), 232.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Today's Exercise<\/b><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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At least three times today\u2014ideally at moments when you\u2019re faced with a decision about what to do\u2014pause and try \u201creflecting\u201d in the Confucian sense. That is, see if you can reflectively engage your moral feelings with the question at hand. If you want, you can focus on the same \u201csprout\u201d you chose on Day 1, or a different one, or on all three. Mengzi\u2019s suggestion of looking for an analogy (a similar-enough situation in which your moral reactions were<\/i> engaged) may help. Or, if there is no immediate choice to be made, think back on the last hour or two and see whether there were moments when your moral feelings were engaged \u2026 or, perhaps weren\u2019t and now you feel regret about that. Take some notes on each of these three occasions.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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After completing the assigned exercise for today, click here<\/a> to access the prompt for tonight’s reflection<\/strong> and to submit your 1-2 paragraph journal entry.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBack to Live Like a Confucian Week<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day 4:Reflective Control Live Like a Confucian Background It is not the function of the ears and eyes to reflect (si \u601d), and they are misled by things.\u00a0Things interact with things and simply lead them along. But the function of the heartmind is to reflect. If it reflects then it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":1546,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1638","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingagoodlife.com\/fall2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingagoodlife.com\/fall2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingagoodlife.com\/fall2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingagoodlife.com\/fall2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingagoodlife.com\/fall2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1638"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/livingagoodlife.com\/fall2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6206,"href":"https:\/\/livingagoodlife.com\/fall2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1638\/revisions\/6206"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingagoodlife.com\/fall2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingagoodlife.com\/fall2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}